The present disclosure relates generally to voice and data communications and, more particularly, to a wireless system and method for minimizing call setup delay for a mobile call occurring across one or more wireless networks.
With the ever-evolving technology in the wireless industry, new wireless generations are being standardized to provide new and broader set of wireless services to end-users. With this natural evolution, the definition and deployment of new network architectures and technologies leads to a coexistence of multiple wireless networks. These networks may be based on different technologies, and some networks may have the capability to support more services than others. In general, older networks may be unable to provide the same features or support the same capacity as may be provided by newer networks.
Within this changing environment, a subscriber in a given network may decide to change his subscription to another network based on a different technology. Such a change may be based on any number of reasons, such as to gain access to new service features, better service quality, or a wider coverage area at the national and international level. However, problems may arise when changing a subscription to another network based on a different technology. For example, the subscriber may be assigned a new mobile phone number that may be registered in the new network, and may lose his previous number, making it difficult for people who have the original number to reach the subscriber. Mobile number portability is a concept used in wireless systems to resolve the above problem and to maintain the association of the original number with the subscriber after the subscriber changes subscriptions to a different network owned by the same network operator but based on a different technology. While operating both an older network and a new network, one of the concerns for a network operator is how to efficiently introduce mobile number portability (MNP) and support calls across different network technologies without changing service quality and without introducing relatively drastic changes to their existing network architecture and infrastructure.
Accordingly, what is needed is a method and system to minimize call setup delay in a telecommunications environment. It is desired to accomplish this while reducing the number of queries to a number portability database server, thereby reducing the service cost associated with such queries. It is also desired to minimize messaging between network entities. In addition, it is desired to avoid degradation in the quality and reliability of services provided to subscribers, and to accomplish this without introducing drastic changes to existing networks and their network entities.